So what is an argonaut? Webster's says...an adventurer engaged in a quest. My quest is finding treasures in birds, landscapes and more around Erie.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Red Walls = Another Redo

I have tried everything to save the red color on the one wall of our living room. It has only been on there for a couple of years and has given me more stress than the house as a whole.

It started with 80+ years of wallpaper that had to be stripped off along the stairway. I don't think there is a worse job. You just can't maneuver and reach on the stairs. In hindsight, I should have bought one of those stair ladders. I painted primer 2 times then I painted the wall red, 3 times. It turned pink. I went out and bought a dark gray color and painted 2 coats of that on the wall. I followed that with the red and it worked. It was a beautiful red color. The rest of the walls was a nice golden yellow color and they looked rich together.

About 6 months after painting, the red started chalking off a bit. It started to oxidize like an old red car. I cleaned the wall off and tried some polyurethane on it to seal it. It just made a mess and brush marks (I tried a roller but it left bubble marks). I don't like the brush marks on my original plaster walls. It loses that "plaster" look of old houses. I sanded as much off as I could and repainted the red about a month ago. It looks blotchy and uneven.

I have given up on the color. This was a red paint we bought at Sears. Benjamin Moore couldn't match the color we were looking for. Sears did. But Benjamin Moore most likely had good reason. Some reds are unstable and not light and colorfast and they don't sell them.

So last weekend I went to Lowes and bought their best primer. I have 2 gallons here waiting for me to crack the lid. I just hate painting while on the stairs. Instead I have been painting my pictures and learning the idiosyncrasies of artist acrylics. But now it is time, time to crack the lid on those gallons of primer. I have stalled long enough. The walls will be painted the same golden yellow as the rest of the room. Hopefully this red stress will be gone.